He is Coming...

Very soon a great being will make his appearance on earth. He will come in power and great glory. His appearing will be marked by wondrous signs. The leaders of many religions on earth will acknowledge that this is the one the world has been waiting for. He will unite peoples and nations. He will bring peace to a war torn, traumatized humanity. Peace, peace…finally. Or so it will seem…because this man will NOT be Jesus the Christ returning. The peace this man will bring will not be the inner peace of God that passes all understanding…it will be only the temporary cessation of war. This man will be a counterfeit that fulfills how the world has been deceived to see the Christ.

The problem with a counterfeit is that once you have one you don’t fill the need for the real thing. If someone owes you money and pays you with a counterfeit bill, you think you’ve been paid…until you take it to the bank. This man will be a counterfeit Christ. His coming is prophesized as clearly in the scriptures as the coming of the Real Christ. His coming will be the key sign to the people of God that the Real Christ is coming soon. This man will begin by speaking soft words. He will tell mankind what they want to hear. He will tell them that they’re all already OK. That’s a far cry from the message of the Real Christ.

This man, this Anti-Christ, will fulfill the prophecies of many faiths. He will smooth over the differences between them and bring them all into one fold. He will move against the King of the South that has united the nations and lands of Islam. The religion that has been a thorn in the side of Christendom will be utterly destroyed*. The Anti-Christ will take upon himself the power to change the laws and times of The Most High God. He will redefine what sin is. He will seat himself in the temple as Gods equal. This will be the Abomination of Desolation spoken of in the scriptures. The great false prophet, the leader of the biggest church on earth that uses the name Jesus Christ, will point to Him and tell the world that this is the Christ. That false prophet will make an idol of the man and demand the world worship it. Many miracles will follow. The world, thinking that he is the Real Christ, will obey. Taking him into their hearts and minds and doing his will, with the work of their hands will be taking his mark in their foreheads and on their right hands. This will signify their covenant with him.** All who refuse his mark, all who deny that he is the Real Christ, will be persecuted, many to death. Those that persecute them will think they are serving the will of God.

Worldly Christendom will have been expecting another Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin as the Anti-Christ. They won’t be expecting a peacemaker. That’s what this man will seem to be…at first. He will be wounded almost to death and be miraculously healed to the amazement of the world. This man will be an Israelite, probably a Jew. Since the Real Christ, at His first coming, remained celibate it is possible that this man will show no interest in women. This will fit the image of many people who believe celibacy is somehow more ‘spiritual’. He will rise to rule the united nations that have revived the old Roman Empire for three and a half years…the same amount of time the Real Christ preached the good news of the coming Kingdom of God. Just as Christ first came to do the will of His father, this Anti-Christ will do the will of his… He will be the embodiment of evil. He will appear to be a bright and shining savior to the world but his gospel will be a corruption of everything Holy. When he has drawn in those that will follow him, those who have taken his mark, they will suffer his fate by following him into the lake of fire. There will be a kind of symmetry between his life and that of the Real Christ. He will deceive all but the elect…and he will almost deceive them.

History shows us that even those who know the scriptures can be mistaken. When the Christ came the first time people who had made the study of the scriptures almost a profession expected a conquering king. What they got was a babe in swaddling clothes. Now the world expects that babe to return, with all the warm and fuzzy feelings they have come to associate with him. What the world will get when the Real Christ returns will be a conquering king!

When the Real Christ returns…the world will rise up to fight against Him thinking they are doing the will of God. They will be doing the will of their god…but not that of the Most High.

Two men are coming…the Beast and the false prophet. Two Witnesses are coming to proclaim the true gospel. The world will kill the latter. The Anti-Christ is coming and the world will accept him as Christ. The Real Christ is coming and the world will fight him and seek to kill those who follow Him.

He is coming…will you know Him when He does?

Don’t be deceived by signs and wonders. Only The Most High God can say what righteousness is. Who are you listening to?
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*There is a prophecy in Islam of a coming messiah-like figure called the Mehdi or Mahdi that will unite all Muslims. This prophecy dovetails in with the prophecies in Daniel about he King of the South. Many will believe that this Mahdi that unites Islam will be the antichrist because he will kill Christians and Jews. They will see the man who destroys this Muslim leader as Christ. They will be mistaken…

** There is still a ritual in modern Judaism wherein phylacteries are wrapped around the right hand and arm and a part of the law of God is worn in a small box on the forehead to signify that one has entered into a covenant with God.

Worldly Christendom erroneously believes that the Mark of the Beast will be a computer chip or some other physical form of identification. Such a mark would not violate the law of God. This ‘mark’ will violate Gods laws and that is the very definition of sin. All who take this mark will be cast into the lake of fire.

The Decline and Fall of America

In 1941 America was drawn into the greatest war in human history. At the onset of that war America was the greatest industrial power in the world. We could manufacture cars, appliances, and whole host of goods that improved the lives of Americans and others around the world. We took that manufacturing capability and retooled it to make planes, tanks, ships, guns and the other necessities of war. Our ability to do so saved the world from the tyranny the Nazis and Japanese would have imposed on it. Our industrial might was a sine qua non of our national defense and national security.

Today, in 20011, we have shipped most of our manufacturing ability to other countries, mainly to China. The Chinese are today where we were in 1940. Students in our public schools used to be taught shop and other practical skills for an industrial based work force. Today almost no public schools teach shop anymore.

We have done all this because we, as a nation, bought into the notion that our children should all go to college and become doctors and lawyers. We have instilled within us the idea that to work with ones hands is somehow less worthy than wearing a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase to work. We now have a nation where we don’t make anything anymore. Our public school children don’t know how because those skills don’t measure up to using a computer.

If another world war were to start we would be caught with our pants down. We could once take comfort in having two oceans to insulate us from the rest of the world. But the world is no longer so large. Modern technology has made the earth a much smaller place. Modern weapons have now put the entire human race in danger.

On top of all this, modern values, or the lack thereof, have stolen the steel that the American spirit was once made of. The generation that fought World War II went through the Great Depression and went on to save the world. When they returned home they built the greatest country in the history of the world. Today’s young people don’t have the same foundation that generation once did. The young people of our generation don’t share any common values outside of greed and immediate gratification for all their desires. Maybe it’s not their fault but the result is still the same. We simply could not do what the generation that fought World War II did. Those that disagree and say that the young people of every generation seem the same are out of touch with reality.

The problem is that human nature hasn’t changed. Technology is more far reaching and more dangerous today but human hearts still fall prey to the same weaknesses that they were always prey to. If history teaches us anything it teaches us that there will be more war. Rounds one and two of the world wars were just a preamble to the next one. And America is on the decline.

Our nation is on a self-destruct course. Greed is the only value that is common these days. All the traditional values that made us great are under attack. Right and wrong are now seen as culturally relative. We have a federal government run by men who will promise anything to their constituents to get re-elected. Corporations want more profits because their shareholders want more. We all want to pay less for the goods and services we purchase. And we all want more money for less work. We’ve thrown God out of our public places and out of our public discourse. We are in a state of economic upheaval because of our desire for more and more and our unwillingness to practice self sacrifice. We have left a spiritual vacuum in the world, one that the Chinese and others are more than happy to fill.

Our decline is leaving a power vacuum in the world too. One that Europe will be forced to fill. The balance of power in the world is shifting. The Islamic world is on the ascendancy as are the Chinese. There are no other countries that share the values that have made America the greatest nation in the history of the world. We’ve been willing to spill our blood and spend our treasure to free people all over the world from tyranny. No other nation in history has ever done what this one has.

Any student of history can see the signs of our decline. America has been a light to the world but that light has grown dim. We have made some terrible mistakes. I believe our greatest mistake is throwing out the concept of reverence. We hold nothing sacred anymore. Anyone who stands up for the traditional values that built this country is branded as a racist or homophobe or worse. We have lost our way.

Our problems may be too late to correct even if we had the heart to do so. We’re not going down with a bang but with a whimper. We just don’t have the moral certainty that our forefathers did. We don’t make anything anymore. We don’t even try to instill good character in the next generation anymore. I fear that what happens to us will be what we deserve...

China...The Dragon on the Horizon

There are many reasons to fear for the decline of our nation and culture. For example, one can argue that the moral decline in our culture bears a strong resemblance to a similar decline in the Roman Empire in the days before it's fall. For my purposes here, I'm focused on the decline of America’s work force skills and our growing dependency on a dangerous "friend".

Ask most college students these days and they'll tell you that they want jobs in the business world where they can wear a suit and tie to work; carry a briefcase and sit in front of a computer one way or another. Not many young people are interested in learning skills where it's necessary to sweat. It is those skills, manufacturing and construction related, that built America and have kept her strong and free.

What we have become is a nation of consumers…only consuming and not making anything anymore. It seems like virtually everything has a “Made in China” stamp on it these days. China, it seems, has become the manufacturer for the world. The problem is that China is NOT our friend.

China is looking to become a dominant world power and they know from the lessons of history that industrial power is economic power. And thier economic power is growing with their military power. They are using their totalitarian system to build their infrastructure and their military might. They will eventually challenge us for supremacy in space. They have begun to build, and send into orbit, killer satelites that can destroy other satelites. They will also eventually challenge us for naval superiority. They just launched their first aircraft carrier. And we are financing it all...while we are giving away our industrial power.

China has embarked on a social engineering project the likes of which the world has never seen. They have instituted a one-child limit for the 500,000 families that make up the country. Families see male children as more beneficial for economic purposes so many, many have aborted their female children or given them over to adoption agencies.To date this social policy has men outnumbering women in China by about 18 million.

That means 18 million men without any women to marry. 18 million testosterone driven men that have no outlet for their sexual, or aggressive energies. The country has only realized in the last couple of years that spells disaster for the future. Just imagine a future where no one has any brothers and sisters or cousins, aunts, and uncles. The Chinese culture was built on families. Family has historically been THE primary influence on their culture. Women and families are a civilizing force on men…one the Chinese won't have in a few years. Don’t think for a moment that those men won’t start to look around for a sexual outlet.

In addition China can’t even feed the population it now has without supplementing it’s food supplies with imported goods. The most populous nation on earth can't feed its own people. That alone sets the stage for a coming conflict.

China and India are both on the ascendancy. Both are competing for the same resources…energy and rare earth minerals to name two big ones. When China has built its infrastructure it will begin to flex it’s muscles and it’s immediate neighbors will be the first to feel the tension.

You can bet the Chinese military commanders are planning scenarios in which China and the US go to war. Their hackers have been looking for weaknesses in our national security systems, as well as, practicing industrial espionage for years now. Additionally the Second Artillery Corps, a secretive branch of the Chinese military charged with protecting and deploying Chinas ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads, has constructed thousands of miles of underground tunnels and many underground bases to hide their nuclear arsenal. Since China has not been a part of the nuclear arms treaties that the US and Russia are bound by...no one knows how many nuclear weapons they have. Analysts have speculated that they number as many as 3000. It will only get worse as they become emboldened. And we are paying for all of it...

Right now America is borrowing money from China. We owe them over a trillion dollars. At the same time we’re sending them foreign aid? Our country is at odds with itself and the Chinese know it. They have been manipulating their currency for years to undermine us. They can smell our weaknesses and are happy to take advantage of them.

Our, potentially, greatest enemy is our biggest trading partner right now. They make everything for us. We have become dependent on countries that DO NOT have our best interests in mind. We recognize the threat from the Arab-Muslim world but we don’t see what’s coming from the East. Our media, and most of our politicians, seem completely oblivious to the growing threat that China poses. While China prepares for war we sleep...

I hope we wake up before it’s too late…

Words of Warning...

For a student of history a time of upheaval, like the one we live in, has almost always meant a time of great change. It is worth noting that many of the greatest wars in history began in a time of economic uncertainty. We live in such a time. Many economists have said that the United States is going through the worst economic period since the Great Depression. The Great Depression was, of course, followed by World War II. The fact is that Europe is also on the brink of economic collapse while China and the oil producing countries of the Middle East are on the ascendancy. It is also a fact that those countries that are becoming economically more powerful are NOT our friends. The balance of power in the world is shifting in a way that is dangerous to the United States and our interests.

It was the industrial power of the United States that won World War II. We can no longer claim anything like the manufacturing capability that we once had. We have given away our birthright for cheaper blue jeans and techno toys.

There is a prophecy in Islam that a messiah-like figure will arise and unite the people and lands of Islam. He will be called the Mehdi or Mahdi. Many Arab leaders in history have believed they might be the Mahdi. The leader of Iran believes he is paving the way for this man right now. The very existence of Israel, and the peace in the Middle East, is threatened by the growing power of Iran and the rise of Islam.

The attention of the entire world is drawn to the Mid-East because it’s THE source of oil for much of the world. Europe can’t afford to lose their supply of oil from the Middle East…nor can China. The, already shaky, economies of the world depend on oil for their very existence. Modern economies are coming to depend of modern technologies too. Modern technologie that require rare earth minerals. The economies of India and China both depend on them. These too are limited and a potential source of conflict between the nations that need them.

Overpopulation, and the stress it is putting on strained food supplies, is yet another source of potential conflict. While America is attempting to clean up the air and water that our industrial revolution has polluted over the decades other countries, like India and China, are ignoring environmental concerns in the rush to become modern economic powers. Economic power is world power. America is giving it up out of a sense of guilt and a move towards socialism…a system that has never worked anywhere it has been tried.

We are living in VERY dangerous times. America used to be the hope of the world because of the values we held dear. We used to have the moral certainty that goodness and right would prevail. Now we’re taught those values are relative. America used to be the place the world’s displaced went to escape the troubles in the rest of the world. There is no longer any place to go.

Our system…the last, best hope for mankind in the view of many…has become a popularity contest for greedy, incompetent politicians. Our leaders, if they can be called that, lack the moral certainty and courage to make the tough decisions. America is in serious trouble. That means the world is in serious trouble.

As a Christian I know the only hope we have is to turn our hearts back to God. We need to repent of our love of money that has clouded everything we do. We need to repent for kicking God out of our lives. We need to repent of the wholesale murder of our unborn. We need to fall to our knees and repent of our national sins. The alternative is a coming fall the likes of which the world has never seen. There is a time of trouble coming. Too many forces in the world are headed for a collision course. We simply can’t go on this way.

Those who believe need not let their hearts be troubled…if they’ve turned their hearts back to God. The world is growing darker every day. God’s way is the only light to be seen. The human heart is where all real change begins. I wonder if we have it in us?

Burn a Koran Day

In a couple of days the leader of a small "Christian" church in Florida is planning to burn copies of the Koran to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11. It seems like every branch of the media is blowing this story up to unimaginable proportions. The American media has made an international story out of it. The whole thing has me fuming!!

Let me say first that I am AGAINST book burning in any forum. I think it is UN-American, it is UN-Christian and it's plain stupid! I also think this moron and his little band of followers has every right to do it.

What has me fuming is that the ACLU and other groups that ordinarily come out en-masse for the right of idiots to be idiots are nowhere to be found. This mans right to freedom of expression was given to him by his Creator. American blood has been spilled in all our wars to ensure that he keeps that right. One used to hear Americans say they would stand up for someones right to do such things even if they completely disagreed with the act. It's even legal to burn an American flag in this country! That irks me terribly too...but I would defend someones right to do it. This is not even mentioning the fact that one can see Muslim Arabs burning American flags in almost any newscast! It's quite obvious that cultural sensitivity and tolerance only work one way with those folks.

I've read what this 'minister' has published and I agree with him on one point. Where will American appeasement to Muslims stop? Americans gave their lives to protect and defend Muslim lives in WWII; in the former Yugoslavia and in Iraq during our first and second wars there. We seemed to have forgotten that they attacked us on 9/11. Since then we have allowed them to encroach on our culture in almost every way. In public places where opponents have vigorously denounced Christian symbols and practices Muslims are now allowed theirs. Muslims are intentionally portrayed in the media now as peaceful, good citizens. All this is done in the name of NOT offending Muslims! Now, we have people that want to allow them to build a 'victory' site next to ground zero where the World Trade Center stood. (Yes, I know, they have that right too... It is also in VERY BAD taste. It demonstrates a complete ignorance of Muslim history and practices on the part of American liberals. And it is completely contrary to what the Imam claims it is supposed to do...build bridges to other faiths and people.) Now, he warns us that if it is not built where he plans it...there will be violence in the Muslim world! Talk about plain extortion!!! (From the members of  "the religion of peace...")

It is the very heart of irony that Americans who are offended by Christian practices...in the culture that Christians built, (Yes, this country was built by Christians on Judeo-Christian principles...) would welcome Islam in getting a foothold here. If those same people were to really realize what Islam teaches...that Muslims treat women like property, they are completely intolerant of any other religious practices in their own lands, and it is their own stated goal of taking over the world for Islam, (because Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the other other completely Islamic countries are such shining examples of paradise on earth no doubt)...those same liberals would be horrified at the prospect of allowing Muslim culture to grow here!

I'm sick of the kind of appeasement that gives our enemies a greater and greater foothold. Islam is NOT a religion of peace. IF it were so...no one would have to 'tread lightly' when criticising it for fear of violence. We might like to convince ourselves that we're just being the bigger souls by allowing Muslims more and more concessions here...but you can be sure that they see it differently. Muslims see us as the 'Great Satan' and they will do anything to ensure our downfall. They see our concessions not as our greatness but as our weakness. What they will do is what Lenin taught his followers to do..."thrust the bayonet in until you strike steel."

There was a time when Americans would Never negotiate with terrorists! Now, it seems, we're just going to hand them the keys to the country by fooling ourselves that they're going to "play nice". You may mark my words...this will evolve into a war of cultures eventually. The West versus Islam is what it will become. Just look at history. Any Serbian can tell you how Muslims 'play nice' once you allow them a foothold on your soil. In every country in the world where Islam has gained a significant foothold there is violence in the Muslim community directed towards non-Muslims.

We are constantly told, mostly by the elite far left pseudo-intellectuals, that we need to be more sensitive and tolerant to Muslims. Well, this is America. Muslims living here have it better than in ANY Muslim country in the world. I think it's time they learn to be sensitive and tolerant of us and our culture! You remember...the one that has saved Muslim lives over and over throughout this century. We should NEVER give in to extortion and allow another country or culture to keep Americans from exercising their own God-given rights for fear of reprisals! Real Americans DO NOT give in to terrorist threats!

These Days 'In Amerika'

This is a strange time in the history of our country. It seems to me to be that way at any rate. We have a president that was elected with NO military experience, NO experience in owing or running a business and that had NO executive experience before he assumed office. Exactly what made him think he was qualified to become the most powerful political leader in the world is beyond me? (I suppose the real question is: What made those who voted for him think he was qualified?) We had an electorate that was tired of George Bush Jr. and tired of the war he seemed to have gotten us involved in without any connection to what happened on 9/11. Additionally, the Clinton name came with too much unsavory baggage. We were tired of "politics as usual". And, to be truthful, white Americans were tired of cries of racism and electing a black man seemed to be a way to signal that most Americans have moved beyond it. We were ready for a change.

What we got wasn't the change we had hoped for. What we got was a man who thinks he's wiser than the rest of us. We got a man who seems to think he's a king or dictator...instead of what he is...the temporary occupant of the White House...and the employee of the American people. One thing is obvious...the man is as arrogant as he is unqualified. He has set about to 'socially engineer' a new America. The problem is he doesn't know what he's doing. It's not that America is perfect. God knows we could use some changes! The thing is, our country has worked for over two hundred years now on some pretty sound principles. Barak Obama is ignoring those principles in favor of a Socialist agenda. There is no question, given his direction, that he's a Socialist. Socialistic principles have been tried over and over again in Europe and the East and they just don't work! In fact the Europeans have begun to give up their socialistic ways in favor of more capitalistic practices. Obama wants to build a European style socialist country when even Europe is headed away from that!

Obama has it in his head, no doubt from his upbringing with Communist parents; his experience as a community organizer; his 20 year association with the radical-racist Jeremiah Wright and his other 'dealings' with crooked Chicago politicians and socialist radicals, that what this country needs is to become a "nanny state". The federal government, in his naive view, should ensure that everyone has the right to equality of outcome..so the wealth of this country has to be redistributed. In short, the government should do everything for everyone!

The problem, as any student of history can tell you, is that every time the government is given more power...especially the power to redistribute wealth...the governed lose more of their freedoms. The United States government exists to give people the most amount of freedoms without stepping on the rights of other people. It was NEVER the job of the federal government to do everything for everyone! It is the federal governments job to: 1.) Form a more perfect union, 2.) establish justice, 3.) insure domestic tranquility, 4.) provide for the common defense, 5.) promote the general welfare, and 6.) secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. Those directives are stated in the preamble to the constitution of these United States. Every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine...and politician takes an oath to protect and defend the principles in that document against all enemies both foreign and domestic. Now, almost every administration in our history has attempted to expand one or more of those directives to give the federal government more power. For example, "Promoting the general welfare" has been expanded beyond all common sense by this administration. The amendments to the constitution, the Bill of Rights, are clearly stated to LIMIT the powers of the federal government. They exist to protect the citizens of these United States from our own federal government. What many people don't realize is that every time we ask the government to do more for us...we give it more power and we lose more of our freedoms. These are the facts.

The principles in our constitution were written down and made the law of the land by Men who understood history. Our founding fathers were statesmen...unlike the sleazy politicians that have usurp-ted the leadership of this nation.

Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reed and their like don't care what the will of the American people, their employer, is. They don't care what the constitution says. All they care about is their own power...and pushing through their own political agenda.

The Republicans who they took power from were just as guilty of that! George Bush started a war his father left unfinished. Saddam Hussein was as evil as any dictator in history and he deserved to be killed. But there is simply no proof that he had anything to do with 9/11. We engaged in a war that costs the United States TRILLIONS of dollars and will leave the volatile Middle East more unstable than ever. What Saddam Hussein did was give the Muslims in the Middle East something to worry about. Now that he's gone we'll face a much bigger problem with an Iran that is going nuclear. All the US did under Bush was remove one evil dictator to make room for another that will be even worse and, in the process, almost financially break this country!

Add to this we have a president that is as naive as Chamberlain was with Hitler...he thinks he can appease the Muslim world by sweet talking them! What he has done / is doing...is making us look weak to the rest of the world and to Muslims in particular. George Bush, for all his faults, had a cowboys sense of justice... I Thank God every day that we had a cowboy in office when 9/11 happened. He kept us safe for the remainder of his term. Let's see if Obama can say that when his four years are up. And, let's hope we can still recognize this country when Obama's time is up...

I Come in Peace...

I received an email recently that spoke to me on a deeper level than I, at first, realized. It was a series of photographs taken in the Hudson Bay area of Canada. The photographer had a team of dogs out in the Arctic that was approached by a polar bear.

Anyone who has lived in the North knows that polar bears can easily kill a team of dogs. There are many stories of those who have done so. Polar bears are powerful creatures that usually only socialize when they mate or raise their young. The rest of the time they live solitary lives in one of the harshest environments on earth.

This photographer just knew his tethered dogs were about to die. As the bear approached it became apparent that he only wanted to play and share some affection. He came in peace. He didn't come to see what he could take. He only wanted some companionship...and a hug.

This story and its photos touched me. I think it's what inspired a dream later. In my dream I was on a battlefield in the middle of another war we, humans, seem so found of. We were all there because our governments had dictated to us whom we should hate and kill. In the middle of the fighting Christ returned. He didn't return as a conquering king like the scriptures say He will. He just walked onto the field and spoke in a quiet voice: "I come in peace...". Somehow every heart heard Him. Most of the men on the field dropped their weapons and rejoiced at the prospect of peace...finally. Only the leaders refused to stop fighting. They called for their men to resume the wholesale murder of their enemies. But the men, hearing a higher calling, walked away and left their leaders with no one to lead. Peace was the deepest yearning in our hearts.

We only needed someone to lead the way. After that dream, all day, I kept repeating the words, "I come in peace" in my mind. There is something in them that speaks to a heaviness in my heart.

We live in a world that grows darker every day. We're all caught up in the smoke and mirrors, in the illusion, that what happens here really matters...and it doesn't. What matters is how we how we live our lives. What matters is who our hearts choose to listen to. Do we choose to listen to God or to our own desires. Do we come in peace or do we come to see what we can get out of someone else? There are only two ways to live in the final analysis. We can live the way of Get or the way of Give. Just imagine a world where no one ever serves anyone else. A world in which everyone is only out for what they can get. If you'll follow that to it's logical conclusion you'll see that kind of world will eventually self destruct. We have it within each of us to choose what kind of world we want to make. That choice comes from whom our hearts listen to. Our choice may not change the world...but it just might. Either way it will change us. Now imagine a world in which everyone willingly serves their fellow man. It's coming...That's the gospel of Christ.

Term Limits Now!

The founding fathers of our nation had the wisdom to design a system that provides checks and balances to the powers of the federal government. The executive, legislative and judicial branches of government were instituted to keep each other in check. They were intended to be co-equal branches of government. Unfortunately, what the founding fathers never conceived of was the abuse of power the legislative branch was capable of.

The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators that would serve their constituents for a time then go home and back to work. Serving in Congress is an honor, it was never meant to be a career.

Because of the lack of term limits, like the one Congress imposed on the President, many men have turned it into a career. Some have served for decades and, in the process, become politically very powerful. That is exactly what was NOT supposed to happen!

Congress has the power to tax the citizenry, and the power to exempt itself from the laws it passes. With the abuse of those powers the U.S. Congress has become a cesspool of corruption that is destroying the ideological foundation of this nation! Most of its members want only one thing…to stay in power. Because there are no term limits, the majority of the time and effort that most congressmen and senators expend is on being re-elected.

Every one of them is a servant of the American people. Their guiding directive should be to “speak for their constituents and act for their country”. What they do instead is represent whatever special interest donates the most money for their re-election. Lobbyists are the most powerful people in Washington…they are the ones who finance the men and women who have been corrupted by power.

What we need now, what would be Real Change we can believe in, is a reformation of Congress!

One possible solution could be the establishment of a Citizens Oversight Committee. Just ordinary citizens elected only once, for say, one year at a time to oversee the actions of the House and Senate. These could have to power to veto any special favors that congressmen try to give themselves.

The guidelines could be something like these:

1.) A 12 year Term Limit imposed on all elected public servants. That allows a member of the Senate to serve two six-year terms and a member of the House to serve six two-year terms. No public servant may serve more…period! (Let them get real, productive jobs!)

2.) Congress will no longer have the power to vote themselves raises…period! They may receive the same cost of living increases that everyone else does. They may receive NO other financial perks. (My grandmother would call what they do now "Letting the fox guard the hen house"!)

3.) All contracts with past and present congressmen are to be made null and void effective immediately. The American people didn’t make such contracts with these people; congressmen made all these contracts for themselves...without citizens oversight.

4.) No Tenure / No Pension: A congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office...period!

5.) Congress can purchase their own retirement plan just like all other Americans.

6.) Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the one they vote on for the American people.

7.) Congress (past, present &; future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund should be moved to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

8.) Congress may NOT touch the money in the Social Security system…period!

9.) Congress must abide by a balanced budget. A constitutional amendment requiring one should be passed now! (Let's make them play by the same rules most families have to!)

10.) If a congressman wants to run for another office, he or she must resign first…period! (Why should they recieve taxpayer saleries/subsidies while they look for another job?!)

11.) If a congressman decides to change parties from the one his/her constituents elected them in…they must resign first…period! (No more scum-bags like Arlen Spector changing horses in mid-stream in a feable bid to stay in office!)

12.) Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people…period!
(This would mean that Congress members do NOT get paid in the event of a government shut-down and there would be NO reimbursement upon it's re-opening!!!)

13.) Congress MAY NOT raise any taxes until they can demonstrate the programs and departments now receiving them are WORKING! There should be a citizens review of laws passed say...one year after being passed. If it is NOT doing what it was designed to do or has unintended consequences it becomes null and void. If it is working it can be reviewed again in five more years.

14.) For every law Congress passes they must eliminate two more laws.

15.) Congress has the authority to declare war. When they exercise that authority and declare war any family members that they have of a suitable age MUST enlist and go to the front lines!

16.) As employees of the American people, Congress may NOT engage in any frivolous pursuits like spending the peoples time apologizing for slavery or declaring a day for some sports figure. We have REAL problems they need to address! 

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When your only tool is a hammer the whole world looks like a nail. Passing a new law is NOT the way to solve all problems. Throwing money at a problem is NOT always an answer. "Calling for" a committee to investigate some problem is NOT DOING ANYTHING.These men and women need to stop acting for their party and act for their country! Instead of paying back some political favor they need to find the best people for the job of fixing problems and not worry about what party they belong to.

The politicians of our time have turned their offices into careers and, in so doing, many have sold their influence to the highest bidders corrupting everything they were meant to stand for. Political office was NEVER meant to be a vehicle for the office holder to line their own pockets!! Congress was NEVER meant to be a ruling class!! They are employees of the American people...just like the president. They were ALL meant to be ordinary citizens who served for a time then went home.

Whatever happened to the statesmen that put their country before their own interests?

Barak Hussein Obama

I don't write much about politics. I don't think the focus of Christians should be in worldly pursuits and, as a political independent, I'm fairly disgusted with both Republicans and Democrats. Both seem intent only on being in power...and in spending other peoples money...namely ours! I've watched Barak Obama for the last year and have realized, like many other people, that the change he promised was just something to say to get elected...another load of crap!

Obama has never started, owned or ran a business. He only spent 143 days in the US Senate and, while taking a 160,000 a year income from taxpayers, he ran for president. There is no question that Americans were ready for a change. George Bush Jr. was an unpopular president who got us involved in an unpopular war. I believe Obama got elected simply because he was Not George Bush.

Obama never really said exactly what he would do as president. He ran making people believe he was a moderate. That turns out to have been all political calculation. He has proven to be a far-left Liberal with a Socialist agenda. That's become plain to the country and most voters have turned against him since. In fact the only thing this president has done in his first year is win the Nobel Peace Prize. (Having only been in office for four days at the time...that has turned the Nobel prize into an inconsequential joke...)

Obama clearly has a huge ego and believes he's smarter than everyone around him. It is obvious now he has no real clue how to run the business that is America. He believes he's the equal to the great statesmen of the past and quotes them often...without actually reading the history of this nation! He even went to Europe, like the commander in chief, before being elected! He began his political career in Chicago, a city renown for it's political corruption, and has proven to be just another corrupt Chicago politician. So much for "change we can believe in"! That 's just another cruel joke on the American people.

He has traveled abroad and apologized for American arrogance. Now, I too think Americans have been arrogant at times but, we have also been the most generous country in the history of the world. We defeated aggressors in two world wars, rebuilt the countries that were destroyed...including those of the aggressors who started the wars...and then forgave the debts! We nave NOTHING to apologize to the world for.

Obama has denied that this country was built on Judeo-Christian principles and that we are primarily a Christian nation. His own 'christian' practices were just another calculated political move for appearance sake. He has made a point of kissing Muslim asses around the world...like that's supposed to appease an enemy hell-bent on our destruction. Such naivete! This country isn't more safe for all Obamas political correctness...it is still a target for Muslim extremists...and now an easier target!

He promised transparency in government...what we got was a series of secret deals in putting together a health care deal that could potentially bankrupt our nation. (Now, I have no problem with the idea of a national health care system. I think America should have something like that. The problem is...we can't pay for the entitlements we have now! We owe the Chinese almost a Trillion dollars in loans! We Americans are going to have to tighten our belts and learn that the government simply can't do everything for us. It wasn't designed for that... Our system was designed to oversee private enterprise to keep it fair. That's why America works! Liberals like Obama want to turn a working system into a "mommy state" that's 'politically correct' and that will destroy what made this country the envy of the world. At the rate we're going we could easily end up like the former Soviet Union and dissolve because we've gone broke. That would leave the world a far more dangerous place! Imagine the world with two super powers...China and a united Europe. Who would have the courage to stop Iran from going nuclear?...Certainly not those two! Far left liberal ideas are not only bankrupting us...they are heading us towards another world war!!)

Obama promised no lobbyists in his administrative posts...he forgot to add...except for the ones He wanted. He promised no taxes on anyone making less than 200,000 a year...he neglected to mention that any taxes he passed on corporations will simply be passed on the folks as higher prices. The result will be the same...less money in our pockets...and an even more powerful federal government that is spending us broke!!

Americans have elected the most naive, incompetent president in this century...and the worst part of all is that the 'perfect storm' ushered in a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress...and all because people were tired of George Bush!

Luckily, like all American political offices, the office of president is a temporary one. We've had incompetents before and gotten rid of them...in three years we'll get rid of this one too... I just hope it won't be too late...

Elena Desserich

Every now and then in the drama that is mankind, a Great Soul emerges. The Indians use the word Muhatma, as in Muhatma Ghandi, to make note of them. We usually look to great religious or spiritual leaders for the title and, in doing so, often overlook the simple, unassuming among us. It's unfortunate...because so many Great Souls are just simple and unassuming people. Many of them are only children.

I was touched by a story I read recently about a little girl who was diagnosed with brain cancer. She was only six years old. This little girl...this Great Soul...reached out to comfort her parents in the midst of her illness. After being diagnosed with brain cancer Elena Desserich wrote hundreds of love notes and hid them around her home for her parents to find. They found them in the pages of books and in stacks of CD's and other places. Each one an unselfish act of love.

Just the thought of this beautiful little girl focusing on love and grace in her illness touches my heart so profoundly that I had to make a note of her life and her passing. The thought crossed my mind that God saw the heart of this little blessing and said to Himself: "That's all I need to see...This soul is worthy of My Kingdom"...and He allowed little Elena to pass on. She touched hearts and, in so doing, taught us something priceless.

Elena sleeps now, awaiting the resurrection of the just. I have no doubt that God has found another jewel for His crown. He certainly blessed the rest of us with her coming and going. Elena's parents, out of their own love, are publishing a book of her notes to share with the rest of us. What a gift!

Make note...a Great Soul has passed this way.

Sleep now little one...You will breathe again...Your name will not be forgotten.

Unsung Heroes

I was having a conversation with a friend recently about the little things people do every day that change the world. Their stories are seldom told because their acts are done quietly behind the scenes. My friend works at the local ski resort teaching the disabled to ski. She told me a story about one disabled Desert Storm veteran that had lost both legs in that conflict. He was learning to ski with his disability. He was trudging through the snow with his prosthetics hidden from the view of others. Nearby a mother and her little girl were making their way through the snow drifts too. The little girl was a tiny little thing struggling to make her way through the deep slush. She complained to her mother that she was having a very hard time. This veteran, this American hero, reached out to the little girl and said: "Here sweetie, I'll help you..." No one could see the struggle it was for him but my friend knew and the scene touched her heart. When I heard the story it touched mine too. I felt like the story deserved to be told.

This was a very simple thing. This man neither asked for, nor expected any recognition for helping this small child. He could have displayed his own disability in an attempt to elicit sympathy for himself. He, instead, took no thought for himself. Whether it's in the heat of battle, or in the simple act of helping a child, that's what a hero does.

I'll never know this mans name or how he lost his legs, but in this simple act I can know his heart and his heroism. Things like this happen everyday all around us. There are heroes among us whose stories go untold, their songs unsung. In their simple acts they preserve what is best in us...

Home

There is no other place on earth quite like the American West. The rugged mountains, the vast plains and the sunbleached desert all dominate here. I've always felt something deeply moving about the places where the desert meets the mountains especially. Such places make me feel small and inconsequential. At the same time they make me connected to something much bigger than me. I recently moved from my home in Texas to just such a place in New Mexico.

From the front door of my new home I can look out and see Capitan Gap in the Lincoln National Forest every morning. Something quite unexpected has come from that for me. I'm much more aware of the skies here. The changes in the weather seem more spectacular, bigger than life even. When thunderstorms move in they can often be seen coming from miles away. On several occassions I've seen them share the sky with rainbows and clear blue patches on the other end of the same mountain range.

I now have deer in the yard every day. I've seen bear, elk and mountain lions around the mountains and the African imported Oryx in the nearby desert. The edge of the desert is only miles from here and, like I said, the place where the mountains meet the desert has always been magical to me.

The local culture is made up of Mexican, Spanish, Apache, Navajo and Old Western influences mixed with modern American. A few miles to the East is the historic town of Lincoln of Billy the Kid fame and twenty miles to the South is Ruidoso, a mountain resort community, known for skiing and horse racing. The Mescalero Apache reservation is right next door where people come to gamble at the Inn of the Mountain Gods. Whenever I hear that native Americans got the worst land in the country, I think of the Mescalero reservation. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth. White men once saw it as useless because they couldn't grow crops or raise cattle on it. The modern world would, no doubt, bring a smile to the Ancestors of the Apache now making money hand over fist from white gamblers.

I now live in a town that doesn't even have a stop light. I've jokingly referred to it as New Mexico's version of Mayberry. Some great folks live here...most I've met are very friendly. Most people seem to come here to be left alone and just about everyone respects that. It is so easy to feel blessed here. It feels easier to breathe here somehow.

I often think of a line from the movie "Dances With Wolves" wherein Kevin Costners character says of the American West: "Every day here ends with a miracle." I know the truth of that now. I see miracles here everyday. I don't often use the word 'spiritual' but I have to say that there is somiething deeply spiritual about this place. When I'm away it seems to whisper to me to return. God has left His fingerprints all over this...land of enchantment.

Change Has Come

No matter what your political views are, we have all just witnessed an historic event. An American of partial African descent has been elected the next president of the United States. In a mere half a century since the great civil rights movement began, a man who would have once been denied an education, denied the right to eat or drink in the same places a white American and denied the right to vote has come to hold the most powerful office on earth. America has struggled to live up to it's creed for over two centuries. In our sacred documents it is declared that "All" men are created with equal rights under the law. At first that meant only white, land-owning men. Slowly, over the decades, it came to include all citizens.

What this has meant to most Americans is that we are struggling to live up to our creed. We, as a nation, voted for a man because we didn't care what color his skin is. Most of us didn't care that is... That isn't true of black Americans. Most black Americans voted for this man only because of the color of his skin.

Now, I am inspired by the words of the great civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King that one day a man would be judged, not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his heart. Most white Americans did just that. Black Americans, however, didn't live up to the creed that they, as a community, claim to believe in.

It is my hope that black Americans will begin to lay aside their anger and their own racism and live up to the creed that Dr. King so beautifully enunciated. It's time we begin to heal from our past national sins.

I didn't vote for Barak Obama. But he will be our president the day he is sworn into office on January 20, 2009. As an American I will accept him as my president because I've chosen to take part in our democracy and I accept the will of the majority of the people. I hope that those who voted for another candidate will do likewise. I will watch my president closely and I will voice my opinions when I agree, and when I disagree, with his leadership. That too is a part of being an American. We can all use this opportunity to live up to another of our mottoes: E Pluribus Unum... Out of many...one.

Child of God

I used to think that carnival sideshows were cruel. I believed they exploited those unfortunate people born with genetic and other defects. My views have tempered over the years. I now think there is some legitimacy in being made aware of those on the edges of the human condition. They have their stories to tell and those stories deserve to be heard.

I recently saw a show on the Discovery channel that focused on a young girl in Haiti. She was the victim of a horrible tumor that had so disfigured her face she no longer even appeared human. The program was about how a team of doctors set about to help this child. She had to undergo a series of operations to regain some semblance of a human being. After the first operation she looked into a mirror to see the results of what the doctors had done. She hadn't looked into one in over two years. I watched as a single tear streamed down her face. I was so touched by that moment that I thought about it for days.

I'm like most people, I am attracted to beautiful people. Like most men, I like to look at beautiful women. Some call that shallow...I don't know...it seems to me to be written into the genetic code somehow. What I know is that seeing this child made me want to turn away. At the same time my heart went out to her and I was again reminded of the words of John Donne: "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." You could just as easily substitute the words illness or disfigurement for death in that Donne quote. It was not her death but her condition that I felt connected to... We are all connected even though most of us turn away from those so afflicted.

None of us are free until all of us are free. None of us will be completely healthy until all of us are. My faith teaches me that we, human beings, are all a part of one family. This child of God, so horribly disfigured, is connected to me and I to her. My heart went out to her and I felt some small twinge of the pain that she has endured. My heart understands a part of what she has gone through because we are connected.

Perhaps only the strongest among us are called on to bear such burdens. Perhaps the very reason they are sick and broken is to teach the rest of us. Thinking thus keeps me from blaming God for such things. Sometimes things just happen. My faith helps me to understand that one day she, and all the sick and broken human beings...all the children of God...will be healed and made whole. That's what helps me to go on. Twenty-five million years from now their afflictions won't matter...what will matter is what we learned from them and how we responded to them. My faith helps me to understand that when I encounter the sick and the broken, those with afflictions I can see...and those with afflictions I can't see... I need to reach out to them as I would my own family...because they are my family.

But for the Grace of God...there go I.

Values

There’s a popular bumper sticker that says: “He who dies with the most toys wins!”

This slogan speaks to what many, many people have come to believe either consciously or unconsciously. Materialism is the dominant value of our culture these days. Think of the people that will spend millions on some artifact or piece of art just to be able to say they own it. Then weigh that against how much money they spend giving back to the world, feeding the poor, curing a disease, housing the homeless... Too many of us live our lives completely devoid of any greater meaning than acquiring more stuff…as if life were some kind of competition to ‘die with the most toys’. How empty our lives have become…how devoid of any real meaning.

Our culture is set up to value only one thing…the ‘so-called’ bottom line. Profit is the ultimate goal. Profit has become the very definition of success. It’s become more important than our quality of life. It’s become more important than the health of our planet and even the health of our children to some. Just witness the recalls of various products found to have been made with cheaper, less safe, ingredients all for the sake of profit.

There are old, beautiful neighborhoods all across America that are being destroyed because investors are buying properties in them, tearing the old homes down, and putting up duplexes and other monstrosities to wrench out every possible penny in profit. The air we breathe and the water we drink are being polluted to produce more and more products that we have become convinced we need. We crave more and more energy to produce more stuff…and that means greater dependence on fossil fuels and more nuclear power plants, both of which have their own set of problems and both of which harm our home...the planet earth.

We can’t turn on a TV, drive down a highway, or flip through a magazine without being bombarded with ads trying to sell us the latest gadgets or services. They want to convince us that to be happy we must have what they are selling! We are drowning in our own greed and lust for more stuff! What we are losing in the process is beyond any monetary value. As a culture, we’ve forgotten that there are things far more important than money and the stuff it can buy. The quality of our lives isn’t improved one bit by having the latest fads. We have begun to use stuff to fill the voids in our lives.

Materialism has replaced spirituality as the defining character of the American people and it is destroying us. People, at one time, came to these shores to better their lives. They believed in the principles that America was founded on. Now they come here only to get rich…and many couldn’t care less about the principles this nation was built on.

America used to stand for something deeper and more meaningful than gross materialism. This nation was founded, not only on free enterprise, but on freedom of religion. It was so important to our ancestors that they be able to freely express their religious beliefs that they left their homelands and came here to build a nation on that principle. Their religious beliefs were in the forefront of their minds and at the center of their lives. That was the foundational value that built the greatest country in the history of the world. It wasn’t about who has the most stuff. Think about that…

Labels

Nigger, Kike, Spic, Cracker, Faggot, Bitch…these are all words that people have used, and in some cases still use, to demean and dehumanize other people. They’re labels that people have attached to others to categorize and pigeonhole them into some preconceived notion of what those others are supposed to be like. Most of these words have largely fallen out of use because of the negative, and even hateful, connotations that they are associated with.

Not everyone who has used such words has meant them to have hateful connotations. I remember when I was a child my grandmother used the word ‘nigger’ to refer to black people. Though she was a product of her generation, having some of the preconceived notions about race that were common in that era, she had no hatred of any black people. She treated everyone with simple respect…because “that was what Jesus would do”. The label didn't mean to her what it came to mean to so many others. We give our labels their power.

It's politically incorrect to use such words these days…even if the underlying feelings are still around. It is the underlying feelings that are so hard to eradicate. That's where the power of our labels comes from. I believe there is just as much, if not more, hatred in the hearts of people now as there ever was. Just mention that you are a Conservative Christian in some circles and you’re automatically reduced to the labels: racist, sexist, homophobic and narrow-minded bigot. The labels, Christian, Conservative and Republican evoke contempt and even hatred from many “enlightened” people. The same can be said of the terms: Liberal, Democrat, Feminist, and Gay among other people. None of them tell us who the individual is...

The funny thing about labels is that, once you pin one on someone, you no longer feel any need to get to know them personally. With the act of labeling someone, the other person is summed up and nothing else need be known about them. It is a peculiar power of human language that naming something gives us a sense of power over it. We all do that to some degree.

The truth is that human beings are more complex than any label. Most people are much more multifaceted. We only tend to see the sides of them that we want to see, or are conditioned to see. Kids tend to see their parents in only one way. Parents tend to see their kids in only one way. Men sometimes see women in only one way. Women sometimes see men in only one way too. We can even become socially conditioned to see, whatever race we're a member of in some preconceived ways. We can also learn to see other races in preconceived ways. When we limit ourselves to see others so, we tend to see only those things that reinforce our preconceived notions and ignore everything else.

A big part of human history can be summed up as people rebelling against being seen by others in only one way. Minorities in every age and nation have fought to be seen as the equals of those in the majority, just as varied, just as complex and just as worthy. It’s an old story that has replayed over and over in our history and literature.

When someone does something we disapprove of, we typically see only how they’re different from us and ignore how they’re the same. That’s the root of prejudice…seeing only the differences and ignoring the similarities, then labeling “them” as “all the same”. They’re just not like us after all!! Among human beings, things will always be this way until our human nature is changed. It is a strange irony of life that the thing that makes us all the same is the very thing that makes us focus on our differences? The good news is that individuals can change…if they make the choice and the effort.

It takes energy to do so, but each us of has it in our power to learn to see the world differently. We all have it in our power to see each other as individuals that could never truly be labeled and should never be dismissed out of hand. The results of learning to see the world in such a way makes it a far more interesting place. Seeing people as individuals instead of numbers in some category makes them more real…and harder to hate. Not a bad goal if you ask me…

Have YOU seen this little girl?

The beautiful little girl in this photo is four year-old Madeleine McCann. Madeleine is a British citizen who was vacationing at a resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal with her parents. On May 3, 2007 Madeleine was kidnapped out of the room she was staying in and hasn't been seen since. Police have been doing their jobs to the best of their abilities but they need the publics help. If you think you might have seen Maddie, especially if you live in Portugal or Spain, please contact your local law enforcement agency.

Maddie's abduction is a Crime Against Humanity…and she’s just one of many, many children that go missing every year. You can just imagine the nightmare that Maddies parents are enduring. It's a horror that no parent should ever have to endure. Maddies parents have the means and the financial support of many of their countrymen to try and help find her. Most abducted children don’t have parents with the money to engage the national media…but we bloggers can put our two cents in.

There are around 100 child abductions and murders every year in the USA. About 74% of these children will be dead within three hours. The statistics are similiar around the world. The kidnapping and murder of the most innocent among us should bring an outcry from all of us! The perverted animals that perpetrate such crimes hide and scurry in the dark like the cockroaches they are. Governments need to pass legislation to deal quickly and harshly with such animals. They are guilty of stealing our future; of destroying our innocence. These truly are crimes against humanity! We cannot allow them to perpetuate this perversion generation after generation! We cannot allow them to continue to harm our children!

Pay attention to the children around you and how the adults they're with treat them. Be alert to their cries for help and call the authorities if you suspect neglect or abuse. Don't just throw away the milk cartons or fliers with pictures of missing children on them. Look at them. Remember their faces. One day a child you know may go missing.

Mine is a voice that may only reach a few people, but I believe this is what a public voice is for. I can’t, in good conscience, pass up the opportunity to add my voice to those who have done likewise. If you're a blogger, a web page owner or have some other kind of public forum, imagine that you put up a photo and some information on a child who has been abducted - and that your site is visited by someone who has just seen them. You could have saved a life...

This, and my fervent prayers for little Maddies safe return, are what I have to offer...

Symbols versus Substance

There is an, often overlooked (or ingnored) , scripture in Matthew 25 verses 34-40. In it Christ likens religious people to sheep and goats. He says to the sheep, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (NIV)

When the righteous asked ‘Lord, when did we do these things for you?’ His answer was: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

This is ‘Nuts and bolts’ Christianity. This is Love in action. This is loving our fellow man like we love ourselves. It is the heart of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ. To be sure, there are truths that it is important to have, and live by, to be a true Christian. One can’t believe just anything and be considered Christian. But for those who claim ‘The Way’ these words of Christ are more important than which church one attends. These words are more important than having the nicest clothes and sitting in the front row of a church every week. They are more important than any ceremonial worship of God. This is the Spirit of God in action.

It’s often overlooked because it’s easier to appear to be righteous than to actually ‘be’ righteous. Too many Christians want to appear to be decent, upstanding people without actually ‘doing’ the things Christ said to do. That was the attitude of the Pharisees. Those folks are addressed in the next verses when He speaks to the goats. Their reward isn’t quite so appealing. The reader can see those verses for him or herself. My point here is simply to go straight to the heart of the matter of what it is to be Christian. I say go ‘to the heart’ because that is where it all starts. The heart is where true faith and hope and love come from.

The world today doesn’t want to deal with Christians. It asks us to leave our flaky, religious views outside when we come in to deal with them. They’re tired of the theme parks and the bumper stickers and the hypocrisy. If more of us simply lived our faith instead of talking about it, if more of us practiced ‘nuts and bolts’ Christianity, we would be invited in much more often. The impression we make would be much more positive and much more lasting. We would find people coming to us and asking what is it that causes us to behave so. We should then be ready to give an answer… Until our lives reflect something of Christ, He would be better served if we remained silent. That’s the real meaning of ‘Taking God’s name in vain’. When we advertise our religion the world scrutinizes everything we do.

In the meantime, a life lived like Christ would speak much more loudly than any Sunday morning TV show, bumper sticker or pamphlet. A life lived like Christ is a light to the world. It is an announcement that there is a better way. People that live Christ-like lives are the salt of the earth; they preserve it. They're the kind of salt that there can't be too much of. Unfortunately, the world is running out of salt...and it's beginning to rot for the lack of it.

Boys and Girls...Men and Women

I like women, but not just in the way one might think. I like they way they look, the way they smell, they way they move, and I like the way they are with each other. Women will freely open their hearts to each other in ways few men would ever think of. A wise man can learn a lot from women. Women can also learn some things from men.

I’ve given it some thought and I think the genetic make up of women drives them to behave completely differently than men. I don’t believe it's all in how we’re are raised. Contrary to what some PhDs’ would have us think…men and women really are different. Luckily, there are enough people still endowed with common sense to see that. That’s a perspective I believe one has to start with if one ever hopes to understand how men and women interact.

Men and women are only whole when they’re together. When we remain separate and only spend time with our own sex we tend to get a skewed perspective on life. Children, especially, need mothers and fathers to get a complete picture of how separate parts make up the whole.

When I was a little boy, if I were to fall and skin my knee, my father would tell me to pick my chin up and take it like a man! If one of my sisters were to do the same, he would speak softly to her, hug her and kiss her bruise to make her feel better. I don’t resent that in any way…it’s what I would do myself if I had children. I think boys need to be strong and that’s the proper way to teach them. Only the shortsighted among us apologize for that.

In a related way little girls are encouraged to show love and affection. They can do with it their dolls, with their pets, with other little girls and no one thinks anything of it. Boys are just expected to be more…‘manly’...than that. To develop that strength, boys are not encouraged to show all their feelings. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes that can go too far, but on the whole I think it’s a good way to raise young men. The world is tough and it takes tough men and women to deal with it.

When men learn to let their guards down it’s usually with a woman. She’s the more experienced in showing love and, while that can be a problem, if he’s open to it, she can teach him how to love. Men and women can learn from each other. Again, I think that’s a good way to do it. When boys are raised to be men this way they don’t open their hearts often. When they do love though…it can be a strong love. Call me a sexist, but I think women are the best at teaching men how to love. Mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, girlfriends even neighbors are all teachers for boys.

I don’t think women are as good at raising boys as men are. Women, in general, don’t understand what it takes to raise a little boy to become a man. Women want to nurture and keep all harm away from their children and that’s a great thing…but it isn’t always the best thing for little boys trying to become men. Sometimes they need to experience pain to prepare them for a tough world.

There is a concerted effort in the US today to eradicate all the traits from little boys that feminists feel are ‘undesirable’. What that amounts to is the emasculation of young men and it won’t work. It has the opposite effect in fact…it makes boys meaner and more violent in the end.

Boys need the guidance and influence of good men to become good men themselves. Unfortunately, good men are in short supply these days. Frustrated single mothers have had to step to the plate and try to take the place of good men. That’s a shame on men everywhere. While I admire and applaud single mothers, they just aren’t equipped to teach boys some of the things young men need to know. Women can teach men and boys how to love. That’s one of the many strengths of women. But, only a real man can teach a boy to become a man.

Women need to stop trying to be men and stop trying to change men. Instead of trying to emasculate them…women should encourage them to step up to the plate and be real men! That isn’t the same as being a woman with different plumbing… Men and women are different! Women need to realize that, and be grateful for it instead of trying to remake men into what they ‘think’ men should be.

Men need to realize that being a real man has nothing to do with sexual exploits or what you drive or what sports you play. Being a Real man is about having integrity; having the strength of character to stand up for what's right. Being a real man is being honorable and doing the right thing. It means giving the women and children in your life someone to look up to and respect.
Real men don’t walk out on their responsibilities. Real men don’t walk out on their families. They take care of the women they love and the children they bring into the world.

We need to dump the idea of unisex that pervades and infects our society. Men and women are different…and we need each other to be whole. We need to be glad we’re different and take pride in it!

It Ain't Over...till It's Over!

No one hates war more than a military man. They’re the ones that have to do the killing and the dieing. Most of the men who have served in Iraq in the last couple of years will tell you that they believe doing so was the right thing. They believe in bringing the freedoms of a democratic system to a people that have never known them. No one involved ever believed it was going to be quick or easy.

We went into Iraq because of the intelligence reports that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. All sides agreed on that until none were found. Then, for political reasons, Democratic politicians started playing to the most liberal elements of their party and started calling the president of the United States a liar and worse. He was called a “liar” for actually acting on what they all believed!

President Bush never lied to the American people about Iraq. He has steadfastly held to a course of action that he decided was the right one. The majority of American people elected him to do just that. George Bush Jr. believes in Democracy and believes it will bring stability to the Middle East. Whatever else can be said of the man, he has been true to his principles. They are American principles.

The fact is that we are now in Iraq. The Iraqi government is too new and unstable to effectively control their country. For us to pull out before they are able to do so would be a disaster that would reverberate far and wide. Iran would become the major power in that part of the world. The very existence of Israel would be threatened, as would the flow of oil to a power hungry world. We cannot let that happen. To do so would be condemning us to a much more widespread war in the future. And, if you don’t like gas prices now…just think about what they would be with even more instability in the Middle East.

Most of the people that are demanding that we end the Iraq war now may mean well…but they are letting their feelings cloud their common sense. The politicians that are playing on those feelings are doing so for their own ambitions. America finds itself, once again, embroiled in a conflict that is setting our own people against one another. We need to remember the American principles that President George Bush hasn’t forgotten. We need to remember that freedom demands a price.

We are in a war against a sworn enemy. Radical Islamists want to destroy us and they won't stop. To pull out of Iraq now would give them a breeding ground where they would multiply like rats! To leave a stable democracy in Iraq would be to stop a good deal of that at its source. We can fight them there...or we can fight them here.

As for those in Hollywood and the media spewing hatred for our president and sympathizing with dictators in lands where the people don’t enjoy our freedoms…there was a time when what they are doing would be considered treason. It is a slap in the face to the troops they claim they support!

Just so I’m clear here…I hate this war. I hate the fact that innocent people on both sides are dieing every day. I was against going into Iraq in the first place…but we’re there now. To support our troops means to support their victory…anything less would be to make the lives of all of those that have given them meaningless. And it would leave the world a much more dangerous place. We have to see this through. We have to see this through!